…I am increasingly confident that when the history of the Bush Administration is written, this systematic violation of statutory and treaty-based law concerning fundamental war crimes and other horrific offenses will be seen as the blackest mark in our nation’s recent history — not only because of what was done, but because the programs were routinely sanctioned, on an ongoing basis, by numerous esteemed professionals — lawyers, doctors, psychologists and government officers — without whose approval such a systematized torture regime could not be sustained….

What, then, will it take for Congress to have the courage finally to provide the thorough public accounting that is so desperately needed here…

What, indeed? I’ve been trying to force myself to slog through the joint government filing in the Boumediene/Al Odah cases, but I have to keep pausing because I am so disgusted. The word “Kafkaesque” doesn’t come close to describing what it is like to read this sort of brief from the Solicitor General of the United States. Truly. (Until then, SCOTUSblog has a good start on a summary.)

As the Frontline clip above makes clear, there has been a systematic push for erosion of American principles of checks and balances by a number of players, not the least of whom is Dick Cheney, to strengthen the executive branch’s hold on absolute power. From the “Cheney’s Law” website:

“The vice president believes that Congress has very few powers to actually constrain the president and the executive branch,” former Justice Department attorney Marty Lederman tells FRONTLINE. “He believes the president should have the final word, indeed the only word on all matters within the executive branch.”…

“There were extravagant and unnecessary claims of presidential power that were wildly overbroad to the tasks at hand,” Goldsmith says. “I had a whole flurry of emotions. My first one was disbelief that programs of this importance could be supported by legal opinions that were this flawed. My second was the realization that I would have a very, very hard time standing by these opinions if pressed. My third was the sinking feeling — what was I going to do if I was pressed about reaffirming these opinions?”

As Goldsmith began to question his colleagues’ claims that the administration could ignore domestic laws and international treaties, he began to clash with Cheney’s office. According to Goldsmith, Addington warned him, “If you rule that way, the blood of the 100,000 people who die in the next attack will be on your hands.”

Unquestioning loyalty to an already decided course of action, whether or not it was in the best interests of the nation or within the bounds of our nation’s laws, is exactly why we are in the mess that we are today. The question now is: how exactly do we walk this back to sanity and sure legal footing? Part of the solution is a whole lot of sunshine — and I wanted to highlight some starting points:

– John Dean has a 3-part series on authoritarian conservatism: here, here, and here. It is a great start to the conversation we will be having with Dean during his book salon on October 14th (this Sunday) at 11:30 am PT [2:30pm ET] here at FDL. (Here is a link to the prior book salon with John Dean — it is a fantastic read in case you missed it.)

The bottom line: It is in the stifling of accountability that the biggest problems began to arise, and what we have seen is nothing compared to what lies beneath the public view. This is going to take a lot of work — not the least of which because the GOP-controlled Congress failed in its duty of public oversight for six long years, giving the proponents of unilateral executive power unfettered time and access to the consolidation of unconstitutional power in the executive branch.

We will be generations in the untying of this Gordian Knot. But untie it we must.

UPDATE: Sam Seder just e-mailed to let me know that the producer of the Frontline show will be on Sam’s Sunday broadcast. Should be a great preview for Tuesday, so tune-in.

Marie at 7 — It does, indeed, make for some substantial reading. But I thought it was a good primer for John Dean’s chat on Sunday — and for all the hearings yet to come on all of this.

It’s going to get a whole lot darker before the dawn on all of this, I’m afraid. And the Frontline piece looks very intriguing on a whole lot of levels. Expect Lynn Cheney to be out making the scream at PBS rounds any minute…

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that change.

I keep seeing hearing and thinking about the many comparisons between our current administration and the Nazi party under Hitler.
It’s horrifying to imagine how history will view us, but seeing all the links to dissident and questioning voices takes the edge off a little bit.
But, still.

jayt at 12 — Ex parte communications to a Supreme Court justice would just get thrown in the trash can. You know that judges (a) don’t pay attention to that and/or (b) get pissed off at people invading their turf. Why would you want to start something like that?

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that change.

It can be very, very hard to be a conscientious attorney working in the intelligence community, particularly for those whose work touches on counter-terrorism and war-fighting. It is not because we don’t work with great people. We do. We work with people who have dedicated their lives to protecting this great country and all it stands for.

It can be hard, instead, because the stakes couldn’t be higher. Hard because we are likely to hear the words: “If we don’t do this, people will die.” You can all supply your own this: “If we don’t collect this type of information,” or “If we don’t use this technique,” or “If we don’t extend this authority.” It is extraordinarily difficult to be the attorney standing in front of the freight train that is the need for “this.” Because we don’t want people to die. In fact, we have chosen to devote our lives to institutions whose sworn duty it is to prevent that, whose sworn duty it is to protect our country, our fellow Americans.

But it’s not that simple, although during crises, at times of great threat, it can surely seem that simple, certainly to the policy maker and operator, and even to the lawyer. We lawyers know – or should know – better than anyone, that it is not that simple.

[snip]

We know that damage to the reputation of that institution will cause harm for years to come, as our institution recovers from scandal or allegations of abuse of authority.

Footnote 5, pgs, 4-5 of Justice Kennedy’s recent NSA decision is scary. Seems in a footnote the Judge identifies a “constitutional violation,” the executive’s refusal to permit the judge and or law clerk with proper security clearance to view “certain” documents in a fact based inquiry. Is this blatant judicial obstruction? A judge cannot determine the justification for withholding a FOI request of Government, if the evidence to make that determination is withheld in violation of BASIC constitutional principles. Is my take on this wrong and or are the facts as I see, different?

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

Just heard NPR come to the verge of sliming Jimmy Carter re his statements on Cheney over the past two days.

also of interest might be a podcast interview bob altemeyer (who’s work on authoritarians dean relied on for his previous book, and who’s been a guest here) did last week with george kenney (the interview is over an hour and a half. so they had a chance to talk in some detail).

I think one can’t understand it until one takes it out of a partisan framework and realizes that there are a lot of Democrats who believe in the same thing. If one judges by the recent war votes, perhaps a majority of Senate Democrats agree that we have “too many freedoms” and the solution is to give more power to the Executive.

I forget who said that dictatorship is not incompatible with democracy, it is a consequence of democracy. It occurs when people decide that deliberative government isn’t working, so they have to give into a strong man who will simply “decide”, end of discussion. I agree the parallels with Weimar Germany are disturbingly apparent.

I think the problem is really with Congress here, mainly the Senate. If you look at both the Democratic and Republican strategies, neither is anticipating much turnover, maybe a few seats will switch parties, but maybe not. We really need to start replacing these legislators instead of just re-electing them over and over. If nothing else, just to prove that we’re watching.

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

Just heard NPR come to the verge of sliming Jimmy Carter re his statements on Cheney over the past two days.

20 degrees F, here in Palmer, AK…

Any snow?
And again, I don’t think Jimmy Carter CARES what any media outlet or individual Rethug says about him. He has his opinions – he served in the office, he also served in the military; he’s a bright guy and feels he has the right and obligation to call it as he sees it.

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

Just heard NPR come to the verge of sliming Jimmy Carter re his statements on Cheney over the past two days.

20 degrees F, here in Palmer, AK…

Any snow?
And again, I don’t think Jimmy Carter CARES what any media outlet or individual Rethug says about him. He has his opinions – he served in the office, he also served in the military; he’s a bright guy and feels he has the right and obligation to call it as he sees it.

Having served in the military doesn’t mean shit unless you are on the same side as these pukes.

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

Just heard NPR come to the verge of sliming Jimmy Carter re his statements on Cheney over the past two days.

20 degrees F, here in Palmer, AK…

Any snow?
And again, I don’t think Jimmy Carter CARES what any media outlet or individual Rethug says about him. He has his opinions – he served in the office, he also served in the military; he’s a bright guy and feels he has the right and obligation to call it as he sees it.

They had a few mm’s of snow in Anchorage Saturday night, but it has been clear. I feel I can almost touch Venus, the morning star. Expecting more Federal indictments today…

Any snow?
And again, I don’t think Jimmy Carter CARES what any media outlet or individual Rethug says about him. He has his opinions – he served in the office, he also served in the military; he’s a bright guy and feels he has the right and obligation to call it as he sees it.

Having served in the military doesn’t mean shit unless you are on the same side as these pukes.

I think one can’t understand it until one takes it out of a partisan framework and realizes that there are a lot of Democrats who believe in the same thing. If one judges by the recent war votes, perhaps a majority of Senate Democrats agree that we have “too many freedoms” and the solution is to give more power to the Executive.

I forget who said that dictatorship is not incompatible with democracy, it is a consequence of democracy. It occurs when people decide that deliberative government isn’t working, so they have to give into a strong man who will simply “decide”, end of discussion. I agree the parallels with Weimar Germany are disturbingly apparent.

I think the problem is really with Congress here, mainly the Senate. If you look at both the Democratic and Republican strategies, neither is anticipating much turnover, maybe a few seats will switch parties, but maybe not. We really need to start replacing these legislators instead of just re-electing them over and over. If nothing else, just to prove that we’re watching.

The prospect of primary challenges is beginning to get the attention of some current members of Congress. The time to make this happen is right now.

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things could be exploited had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that exploitation change.

OT – anyone know what’s up with House of Representatives today? looks like they’re in recess for the day, but i don’t think it was planned because i count 11 house committees hearings that were scheduled for today and were postponed this morning (that’s most, but not all of the scheduled house hearings for today)

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that change.

(even prior to 9/11, eh, Lynne?)

Lynn Cheney is making the rounds promoting her book. She is crafty and articulate. Though Jon Stewart breached the subject of gay rights – hinting at the Cheney’s apparent hypocrisy, he was mostly ineffectual at winning the point. Lynn got the better of him. Stewart seemed ill-prepared to counter Lynn’s 911 talking points and effectively call attention to her factual errors. He was too worried about offending the offensive woman.

Lynn will get copious kidd glove treatment from the MSM. I hope others will be better prepared for her.

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

Just heard NPR come to the verge of sliming Jimmy Carter re his statements on Cheney over the past two days.

20 degrees F, here in Palmer, AK…

I leaned where Palmer, Alaska is located! Thanks to Ed*ward Teller and Mapquest!
I learned something new today and it had nothing to do with how cruel the (R) party can be. It looks pretty on the map, is it?

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that change.

(even prior to 9/11, eh, Lynne?)

Lynn Cheney is making the rounds promoting her book. She is crafty and articulate. Though Jon Stewart breached the subject of gay rights – hinting at the Cheney’s apparent hypocrisy, he was mostly ineffectual at winning the point. Lynn got the better of him. Stewart seemed ill-prepared to counter Lynn’s 911 talking points and effectively call attention to her factual errors. He was too worried about offending the offensive woman.

Lynn will get copious kidd glove treatment from the MSM. I hope others will be better prepared for her.

ot – I picked up Mr. NZ Expat at the airport last night. He hasn’t been in the US for two and a half years. Oh frabjous day! It is lovely to have him here. The grinning son and father stand next to each other with the son now towering over the father, which wasn’t the case eight months ago, when the son left NZ.

I’ll report on his reactions to the changed country on his temporary re-entry. He left not terribly long after an interview for a government job included intimidating comments that showed they had been using the internet to gather information on his political views that had been uttered in his private life. He is a Naval Academy grad and had three years in Vietnam. Last night, he immediately noticed how what would be fringe (religious kookery) in NZ commentary is mainstream here.

OT – anyone know what’s up with House of Representatives today? looks like they’re in recess for the day, but i don’t think it was planned because i count 11 house committees hearings that were scheduled for today and were postponed this morning (that’s most, but not all of the scheduled house hearings for today)

According to the Speaker’s website, they are is session tomorrow but not today.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) on Wednesday released an interview with GOP lawyer Dana Jill Simpson implicating former White House adviser Karl Rove in the prosecution and conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on corruption charges.

[snip]

Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing into claims that the Justice Department selectively prosecuted Democrats, including Siegelman, has been postponed, and a new date has not been set.

Sounds like perhaps the committee may be revising its witness list, and perhaps a certain former SAO may be huddling with his lawyers.

The President isn’t the chief law enforcement officer of the US, the AG is. I am almost more interested in who the next AG will be, than in who the next POTUS will be.

Whomever it is, the confirmation hearings are poised to be extremely interesting.

My guess is that the hearings will be a bore and that Congress will simply roll over. The Republicans don’t want to fight, and the Democrats appear to be terrified that the White House will leak (again) how many people high up in the Democratic party have known all about what Gonzales has been doing for years.

The Bush Administration, insisting that Guantanamo Bay detainees “enjoy more procedural protections than any other captured enemy combatants in the history of warfare,” urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to deny them any further legal remedies for their captivity.

Ghod. And as if that isn’t bad enough, it is worth bearing in mind that GWB replaced Clement as Interim A.G. with Peter Keisler, another Federalist Society member (as is Clement) as a shot across the bow of the Judiciary Committee. As in “if you don’t confirm Mukasey, lookee who I’ve got right here…” (Keisler supposedly being, if possible, even more reactionary than Clement).

Christy, I understand how scheduling folks for the Book Salon is tough, but I’m really sad I’m going to miss the Book Salon with John Dean because the time had to be moved up to 11:30AM-1:30 PM on Sunday. That’s 9:30-11:30am CT for me, and I’m kind of busy on Sunday mornings . . .

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) on Wednesday released an interview with GOP lawyer Dana Jill Simpson implicating former White House adviser Karl Rove in the prosecution and conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on corruption charges.

[snip]

Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing into claims that the Justice Department selectively prosecuted Democrats, including Siegelman, has been postponed, and a new date has not been set.

Sounds like perhaps the committee may be revising its witness list, and perhaps a certain former SAO may be huddling with his lawyers.

Lynn Cheney on the Daily Show joking about her husband biting heads off chickens reminds me of the horrible MC Rove episode. Did someone advise these people that joking about how awful they are makes it okay?

Christy, I understand how scheduling folks for the Book Salon is tough, but I’m really sad I’m going to miss the Book Salon with John Dean because the time had to be moved up to 11:30AM-1:30 PM on Sunday. That’s 9:30-11:30am CT for me, and I’m kind of busy on Sunday mornings . . .

*g*

Oh, well — I’ll catch up on it later!

Aaaarrgghhhh!

One of these days, I’ll get the time zone stuff right. That’s by far the one part of my move that I still get screwed up on.

Injured 12-year-olds, a former president who still tirelessly devotes his life to public service.

If there are any nuns or orphans out there, get ready, you’re probably next.

Fox was sliming Mother Theresa after it was revealed that she had doubts. Said she was senile.
What did Lynne Cheney say about Carter this morning? Someone said she slimed him.

She said she lost all respect for him (like I believe she ever had any respect for him) in 1991 when he wrote letters to heads of state against getting a UN resolution to go to war over the Kuwait situation. I’m sure there is much more to this than we have the time or the inclination to examine, but that was her indication.

Christy, I understand how scheduling folks for the Book Salon is tough, but I’m really sad I’m going to miss the Book Salon with John Dean because the time had to be moved up to 11:30AM-1:30 PM on Sunday. That’s 9:30-11:30am CT for me, and I’m kind of busy on Sunday mornings . . .

*g*

Oh, well — I’ll catch up on it later!

Where are you? 11:30 eastern is 10:30 CT. You have your own special time zone or something?

Jackson WY, gateway to the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone. Got several plainspoken friends living there who wish the Cheneys would just flyover for good & move the hell away.

An interesting anecdote from a local fishing guide- When Cheney fishes the Snake River near Jackson he has the guides “herd” the river, meaning drive the fish toward him. Sort of like those canned hunts he favors. Cheney wants a sure thing, not a challenge, apparently.

thanks. Reason I asked is that I tried to call in for a conference call w/Joh Sunday night re the Barry Welsh campaign, and somehow I heard the podcast (which was quite good, btw). Wires just got crossed, I guess.

For anyone who’d like a little more ‘prayerful misdirection’ – C-SPAN’s schedule is listing an upcoming live press conference with Nancy Pelosi airing on their C-SPAN 3 site, starting in 10 minutes, at 11:15 a.m.:

Lynn Cheney on the Daily Show joking about her husband biting heads off chickens reminds me of the horrible MC Rove episode. Did someone advise these people that joking about how awful they are makes it okay?

That was a cunning stunt. She really made a good impression under the circumstances and that is a bad thing. Stewart gave her a huge pass when he stated that he should not castigate her for her husband’s actions. The interview lost momentum at that point. Jon had boxed himself in.

A question for those who know the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and/or the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure better than I do:

Since we now know that the decision in Reynolds was procured by means of a fraud on the court, is there any way to get it vacated or reconsidered at this late date?

Sorry, I obviously need more coffee. Remind me, what was the decison in reynolds and what was the fraud on the court? ALso how high did reynolds get up the appeals chain?

Reynolds is the case that established the state secrets doctrine. The supposedly secret documents that were withheld from discovery were declassified and FOIA’ed not too long ago, and it is quite obvious that their content was misrepresented to the courts at every level, including the Supreme Court.

The vaunted State Secrets Doctrine has its roots in a cover-up of negligence by Air Force maintenance personnel that caused a plane to crash. Isn’t that lovely?

Jackson WY, gateway to the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone. Got several plainspoken friends living there who wish the Cheneys would just flyover for good & move the hell away.

An interesting anecdote from a local fishing guide- When Cheney fishes the Snake River near Jackson he has the guides “herd” the river, meaning drive the fish toward him. Sort of like those canned hunts he favors. Cheney wants a sure thing, not a challenge, apparently.

Lynn Cheney on the Daily Show joking about her husband biting heads off chickens reminds me of the horrible MC Rove episode. Did someone advise these people that joking about how awful they are makes it okay?

That was a cunning stunt. She really made a good impression under the circumstances and that is a bad thing. Stewart gave her a huge pass when he stated that he should not castigate her for her husband’s actions. The interview lost momentum at that point. Jon had boxed himself in.

thanks. Reason I asked is that I tried to call in for a conference call w/Joh Sunday night re the Barry Welsh campaign, and somehow I heard the podcast (which was quite good, btw). Wires just got crossed, I guess.

You’re welcome, and thank you for the good review. I hope you eventually connected with Joh.

Jackson WY, gateway to the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone. Got several plainspoken friends living there who wish the Cheneys would just flyover for good & move the hell away.

An interesting anecdote from a local fishing guide- When Cheney fishes the Snake River near Jackson he has the guides “herd” the river, meaning drive the fish toward him. Sort of like those canned hunts he favors. Cheney wants a sure thing, not a challenge, apparently.

Have to drive in to work finally. Read you all later.

Why is it no one is surprised by this???

The old sportsman. At least he’s less dangerous with a fishing rod than he is with a shotgun. He can only take someone’s eye out or hook them in the face with an errant cast.

Updated this above: Sam Seder just e-mailed to let me know that the producer of the Frontline show will be on Sam’s Sunday broadcast. Should be a great preview for Tuesday, so tune-in.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a hearing problem that makes listening to the radio difficult. I never get to enjoy AirAmerica. One of my hopes is that someone will televise (with captions) their shows. I keep waiting.

The general rule is that it is far easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. My favorite question to local wingnuts who think used to think VP Cheney and the Bushista regime are were a good thing is “Will you feel comfortable when Hillary Clinton has these same expanded powers?”

And this is what convinces me that chimp and his handler aren’t planning to go anywhere in 2009. You think they’d be accruing this much power, especially in the last lap of chimp’s term, if they planned to hand it over to – a Democrat? Hardly.

Of course, karl has gone full speed into election “pranks”, and even given their his stupendous miscalcutions last election of just how many “pranks” would be needed; certainnly that will be their first line of defense. They are madly hoping Clinton will have the nomination, correctly guaging that there are so many knee jerk mysogenist clinton despising closet lurking rethugs out there that she’ll be the bet thing that ever happened to the GOP’s political ambitions for 2008. She’ll be the second line of defense.

And then of course, there’s always the trump card: a terra attack and martial law.

Lynn Cheney on the Daily Show joking about her husband biting heads off chickens reminds me of the horrible MC Rove episode. Did someone advise these people that joking about how awful they are makes it okay?

That was a cunning stunt. She really made a good impression under the circumstances and that is a bad thing. Stewart gave her a huge pass when he stated that he should not castigate her for her husband’s actions. The interview lost momentum at that point. Jon had boxed himself in.

I just wanted to mention, that if Dick Cheney doesn’t care about the law, he doesn’t care what his wife thinks.

Jackson WY, gateway to the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone. Got several plainspoken friends living there who wish the Cheneys would just flyover for good & move the hell away.

An interesting anecdote from a local fishing guide- When Cheney fishes the Snake River near Jackson he has the guides “herd” the river, meaning drive the fish toward him. Sort of like those canned hunts he favors. Cheney wants a sure thing, not a challenge, apparently.

Have to drive in to work finally. Read you all later.

When I lived in Jackson, you could tell when Cheney was coming to town; F-16’s would be flying air-cover over the Tetons at 6AM.

I posted this at C&L and hope you don’t mind a longish repeat comment here. Cheney is beyond mean-spirited. This is the most destructive administration in history.

I’m calling out the BS of Cheney’s talking point of “we will not discuss what these enhanced interrogation techniques are because then our enemies can TRAIN for them” vs. “we will not discuss what these forms of torture are so that the world will know we indeed are torturing people.”

What Dick Doesn’t Want AQ to Know Dick About:

If you are a civilian operative who foresees a one way trip to Syria in your near future, here are a few traveling tips to prepare for your destination:

1. Get Thee to a Nail Salon. Have all twenty nails removed from your digits and replaced with acrylics. When they pop those babies off, your secrets are still safe.

2. Get Thee an Extreme Makeover. Have those underwater breathing devices inserted and head to the nearest available body of water in the Saharan Desert. Have a companion dunk you into the restorative salt water and feel the core of your steely resolve.

3. Go to the Freezer, Get the Boombox. Stand in the middle of any readily available refrigeration units in Sahara Desert, with a boom box. Play American classic Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo (amazon.com, iTunes, etc) at the highest possible volume.

4. Get The Family On Board. Have your best friend interact with your wife in the following ways. A. insult her. B. molest her C. harm her in your presence. Next your daughter and then your mother. Remember you are in training, so this isn’t the real thing.

If you can do all these things to yourself, the world is less safe for Americans.
Thank you.

Given the Dems propensity to triangulate every action (incorrectly it seems), it is likely no one will face impeachment let alone prosecution for the plethora of crimes committed under Cheney/Bush regime. I thought a provocative question for the gaggle of Presidential aspirants is if they support the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague and would the allow any and all indicted persons to stand trial.

FDL is such hard work! If I’m going to follow and read all the links (which I know I should do) I’ll have to give up my paid work for the day and stay in front of the computer instead. And then of course, there are the links in the comments. How do all you guys keep up?

FDL is such hard work! If I’m going to follow and read all the links (which I know I should do) I’ll have to give up my paid work for the day and stay in front of the computer instead. And then of course, there are the links in the comments. How do all you guys keep up?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a “disaster” for the country and a “militant” who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy.

Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said.

“He’s a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world,” Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday.

“You know he’s been a disaster for our country,” Carter said. “I think he’s been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he’s prevailed.”

For anyone who’d like a little more ‘prayerful misdirection’ – C-SPAN’s schedule is listing an upcoming live press conference with Nancy Pelosi airing on their C-SPAN 3 site, starting in 10 minutes, at 11:15 a.m.:

Maybe she will re-iterate her “let them eat cake, the dirty hippies” comment about how she bemoans the fact that she can’t have protesters against the war or for impeachment arrested but would be able to if they were “merely poor”.

I forget who said that dictatorship is not incompatible with democracy, it is a consequence of democracy. It occurs when people decide that deliberative government isn’t working, so they have to give into a strong man who will simply “decide”, end of discussion. I agree the parallels with Weimar Germany are disturbingly apparent.

LYNNE CHENEY: (Smiles.) You know, Joe, we have a saying in Wyoming, where I grew up: “A dog never barks at a parked car.” After 9/11, things had to change in America. And my husband has always been an active advocate for that change.

(even prior to 9/11, eh, Lynne?)

Lynn Cheney is making the rounds promoting her book. She is crafty and articulate. Though Jon Stewart breached the subject of gay rights – hinting at the Cheney’s apparent hypocrisy, he was mostly ineffectual at winning the point. Lynn got the better of him. Stewart seemed ill-prepared to counter Lynn’s 911 talking points and effectively call attention to her factual errors. He was too worried about offending the offensive woman.

Lynn will get copious kidd glove treatment from the MSM. I hope others will be better prepared for her.

I saw that show and thought Jon was brilliant. The intro before the commercial break had me rotfl.

When Lon…um…I mean Lynn Cheney went for the obvious applause line, ‘Bush should be commended for there being no attacks since 911,’ there was dead silence instead of applause.

Then she literally fell into the compost heap when Jon mentioned Spain and England being attacked, and she said with all sincerity, “But not American interests.”

And Jon gently said “I think the safety of our allies is an American interest.”

Point. Match. She said that we aren’t interested in the safety of our allies. It’s not an American interest.

62 – This Legal Affairs article refers to situation when Clement was back in law school and some of his peers “poked mild fun at him for arrogance, using mock footnotes: “See CLEMENT, I Can Explain Anything with a Graph, in THE ANALYSIS IS EASY ONCE YOU ASSUME AWAY THE HARD STUFF 54 (1992) “

Long ago, far away … but right on point.

Once you assume that you have combatants (and not human trafficking victims sold to Bush or protected persons or bipolar chefs) and

once you assume they are not protected persons but rather US enemy combatants (and not factions fighting each other in Afghanistan or civilians defending their homes from attack, etc.) and

once you assume that as enemy combatants they would have been entitled to POW treatment and

once you assume that they were given a procedure to enforce their rights to POW treatment (the ONLY argument – at least prior to the MCA – for suspension of POW treatment was being an unlawful enemy combatant, not an “enemy combatant” although now with the Democratic assistance in enshrining the MCA that is a bit different)and

once you assume that their status hearings (combatant status review tribunals – CSRTs)to determine that they were actually battlefield captures and not civilians sold to US were promptly initiated (and not held years later and AFTER the commission of what would be a war crime and severe breach of Article 49 IF they were not combatants such that everyone involved with their detention would be susceptible to being charged as a war criminal IF the tribunal did anything but rubber stamps “enemy combatant” status) and

once you assume that the CSRTs allowed some baseline standards for someone – like a Kurnaz – with a file full of exculpatory “evidence” all “classified” to actually get at that evidence and obtain release through the CSRT system rather than having to get a judge to intervene via the now suspended habeas venue and

once you assume that there were people of truth, crediblity and integrity involved in the process and

once you assume that continuing to hold “enemy combatants” for years after formal invasion was ended and a new government in place and subject to some indeterminate conceptualization of when the “war” of ideas will be put to rest and

once you assume that a sustained and uninterrupted course of brutality, torture, depravity, humiliation that will be forever applied on whim and with no constraint or oversight has been de riguer and authorized by torture memos at numerous points in the past so this is “just like” then

well, golly, the argument gets easier.

Add in an unblinking willingness to either* a) fib directly and outright to the Court, or b) deliberately keep his client’s information segregated and insulated from him so he can pretend he doesn’t know it – - and the arguments are so easy they might as well be wearing shiney thigh boots and crotchless underwear.

*As with torture in the Padilla and Hamdan cases – not only with the ‘rogue’ elements of Abu Ghraib about to be exposed but also with the direct US DOJ involvement in Arar described in a then pending lawsuit naming Aschcroft and Thompson specifically and later quashed by Comey, and the torture based arrest warrants for Padilla which have now become acceptable for the arrest of any US citizen thanks to the Padilla court, and all kinds of FBI and military and intel reports filtering in on abuse at GITMO, abuse by MI and not just MP at Abu Ghraib and all detention facilities, etc.) – all this and much more of which swaths of DOJ and the Executive Branch had direct knowledge but Clement either “did not know anything about” (which would mean he performed zero due diligence in connection with his argument) or misrepresented.